Road Zero
The road starts before you leave.
I don't live in a van. Not yet.
Right now, I have a house, a job, 3 dogs, a martial arts school I'm deeply involved with, and an idea about how I want the next chapter of my life to look.
I want to live on the road. Not because I want to escape life but because I want to experience more of it.
I want to travel across the country with my dogs. Train at dojos I've never heard of. Meet martial artists, craftspeople, wanderers, odd ducks, free spirits, and interesting types doing things their own way.
I want to see the places most people drive past. Sleep somewhere I've never slept. Wake up in the mountains or on a beach and train outside.
Follow a strange story or place three hours out of the way just because I want to know what's there.
And eventually, I want a van that makes that possible.
But The Road isn't just about van life.
It's about getting there.
ROAD ZERO
Before the van comes the work.
What kind of vehicle do I actually need? How much will this cost? How do I build income that doesn't require me to be in one place? What do I keep? What do I get rid of? How do I travel comfortably with my dogs? How much money do I need before I leave?
And maybe the biggest question:
Can I actually build a life that gives me the freedom to do this?
That's what Road Zero is about.
I'm documenting the process from where I am now—not starting the story after I've figured everything out.
The research. The money. The mistakes. The weekend trips. The van hunt. The gear. The build. The training. The places. The people.
Eventually, Road Zero ends.
And the road begins.
FUNCTION BEFORE FORM
Ya gotta 'Te' before you 'Jitsu'
Te Before Jitsu comes from martial arts.
At its simplest, it means strike your opponent first before you try to manipulate their body.
Stun before you seize, damage before you dominate, strike before you grapple.
Function before form. Te translates to 'hand' and jitsu can loosely be translated to 'specialty' or 'technique'
Solve the problem in front of you before worrying about making it pretty or getting super granular.
That's the philosophy I'm taking with me.
I don't need the perfect van. I don't need the perfect itinerary. I don't need a perfectly curated Instagram version of van life.
I want something functional, sustainable and real.
A vehicle I can live in. A way to earn money from anywhere. My dogs beside me.
Martial arts to train and teach.
And enough freedom to occasionally look at a road I've never been down and decide:
Let's see where that goes.
JOIN THE ROAD
I'm starting before I'm ready. If you want to see whether this actually works, come along. I'll share the process—from Road Zero to the van build and eventually wherever the road takes us.
The Te-Before-Jitsu Code
Adam Lamagna